Eastern Orthodox Church

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Eastern Orthodoxy (technically Orthodox Christianity) is the second largest Christian Church or type of Christianity in the world. It has no head but rather comprises over a dozen autophagous organizations who are "in communion" (i.e. they agree on all points of doctrine, and baptism in one conveys the right to take communion with any of the others). The division between the Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches goes back to the so-called Great Schism of the XIth century, but efforts to repair the breach are ongoing.

The different Orthodox Churches include:



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It has not been adapted to the world of Ill Bethisad. Anyone feel free to edit it. QSS and QAA are held in abeyance.


The Eastern Orthodox Church is the second largest single Christian communion in the world. It is considered by its adherents to be the very same Church established by Christ and his Apostles. It is composed of numerous theologically unified autocephalous ecclesial bodies each shepherded by a synod of independent bishops whose duty is to preserve the beliefs and practices (Traditions) of the Church. All Orthodox bishops can trace their lineage back to one of the twelve Apostles through the process of apostolic succession.

Eastern Orthodox Christians believe that the Orthodox Church is:

  • The authentic and original Christian Church established by Jesus Christ and his Apostles.
  • The preserver of the teachings and traditions given to the early Christians by the Apostles nearly 2000 years ago; and the developer of conciliar interpretations which expand and illuminate the original teachings.
  • The preserver of Truth which compares all newer theological ideas to the already established beliefs and practices of the Church; accepting ideas that clarify and correctly teach, while rejecting ideas that are theologically incompatible with the original teachings.
  • The preserver and compiler of the New Testament whose texts were written to members of the Church in ancient times and expressed an already established doctrine.

Members of the Eastern Orthodox Church usually refer to themselves as simply Orthodox. Eastern is a term often applied in the Western World for the sake of clarity. Traditionally the Orthodox refer to themselves as Catholic since the Roman Empire (centered in Constantinople) called itself Roman and its people, Greek speaking though they were, called themselves Romans. But for modern scholarship and to alleviate confusion in textbooks the term Byzantine Empire is often used today. Members of the Orthodox Church consider themselves to be members of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, a claim also held by the Assyrian Church, the Coptic Church, and what is today referred to in the Western World as the Roman Catholic Church. As the Orthodox see it the Assyrians and Copts broke from the church after the first few centuries and the Roman Catholics in 1054. Since then the Eastern Church has referred to itself as Orthodox (Correct Believing). However in Greek, the Greek Orthodox followers call themselves "Catholic" or "Greek Catholic". National pride has lead many local congregations to adopt national epithets such as Greek Orthodox or Russian Orthodox, but theologically and spiritually there is believed to be only One Church, the Orthodox Church.

Several other ancient Churches in Eastern Europe, Western Asia, and North Africa also use the term Orthodox, but are distinct from the Eastern Orthodox Church as described in this article.

The Orthodox Church considers Jesus Christ to be the head of the Church and the Church to be His body. It is believed that authority and the Grace of God is directly passed down to Orthodox bishops and clergy through the laying on of hands—a practice started by the apostles, and that this unbroken historical and physical link is an essential element of the true church (Acts 8:17, 1 Tim 4:14, Heb 6:2). Each bishop has a territory (see) over which he governs. His main duty is to make sure the traditions and practices of the Church remain inviolate. Bishops are equal in authority and cannot interfere in each others' territory. Administratively, these bishops and their territories are organized into various autocephalous groups or synods of bishops who gather together at least twice a year to discuss the state of affairs within their respective sees. While bishops and their autocephalous synods have the ability to administer guidance in individual cases, their actions do not usually set precedents that affect the entire church. There have been, however, a number of times when heretical ideas arose to challenge the Orthodox faith and it was necessary to convene a general or "Great" council of all available bishops. The Church considers the first seven councils (held between the 4th and the 8th century) to be the most important; however, there have been more, specifically the Synods of Constantinople, 879–880, 1341, 1347, 1351, 1583, 1819, and 1872, the Synod of Iaşi (Jassy), 1642, and the Pan-Orthodox Synod of Jerusalem, 1672, all of which helped to define the Orthodox position. These councils did not create the doctrines of the church but rather compared the new ideas to the traditional beliefs of the Church. Ideas that were not supported by the traditions of the church were deemed heresy and expunged from the church. The ecumenical councils followed a democratic form with each bishop having one vote. Though present and allowed to speak before the council, members of the Imperial Roman/Byzantine court, abbots, priests, monks and laymen were not allowed to vote. The bishop of the old Roman capital, the Pope of Rome, though not present at all of the councils, was considered to be president of the council and thus called “First Among Equals” until the great schism of 1054. One of the decisions made by the second council and supported by later councils was that the Patriarch of Constantinople, since Constantinople was the New Rome, should be given the honor of second in rank. Later, because of the split with Rome, the honor of presiding over these general councils was transferred to the Patriarch of Constantinople who was also given the title, "First Among Equals", reflecting both his administrative leadership and his spiritual equality. He is not, however, considered to be the head or leader of the church.

Nowadays, there are 14 (15 by some) autocephalous Orthodox churches, in full communion with each other, with the precise order of seniority of their heads as listed below. Some of them contain autonomous (marked below) and/or semi-autonomous dioceses (listed within the mother churches). The first nine of the autocephalous churches are led by patriarchs.

Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople

  • Finnish Orthodox Church (autonomous)
  • Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church (autonomous)
  • Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese in the USA
  • Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada
  • Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA
  • Albanian Orthodox Diocese of America
  • Patriarchal Exarchate for Orthodox Parishes of Russian Tradition in Western Europe

Episcopal Vicariate of Great Britain and Ireland

  • Mount Athos
  • Belorussian Council of Orthodox Churches in North America
  • Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain (includes Ireland)
  • Archdiocese in Italy and Malta
  • Archdiocese in Australia
  • 13 other small metropolises outside its canonical territory: Austria, Belgium, Argentina, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, the Korean Orthodox Church, Mexico and Central America, New Zealand, Scandinavia, Spain and Portugal, and Switzerland

Patriarchate of Alexandria

  • African Orthodox groups in the African Continent

Patriarchate of Antioch

  • Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America (autonomous)
  • Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia, New Zealand, and All Oceania

Patriarchate of Jerusalem

  • Church of Mount Sinai (autonomous)
  • Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem in North and South America

Russian Orthodox Church (Patriarchate of Moscow and of all Russia)

  • Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) (de-facto autonomous)
  • Moldovan Orthodox Church (territorial jurisdiction contested by the Romanian Church)
  • Metropolis of Western Europe (proposed, but not instituted)
  • Japanese Orthodox Church (autonomy not universally recognized)
  • Belarusian exarchate
  • Estonian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate)
  • Latvian Orthodox Church
  • Hungarian diocese
  • Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (autonomous; union completed on May 17, 2007.)

Serbian Orthodox Church (Patriarchate of Peć and of all Serbia)

  • Metropolitanate of Zagreb, Ljubljana and All Italy (Croatia, Slovenia, Italy)
  • Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral (Montenegro)
  • Metropolitanate of Dabar-Bosna (Bosnia-Herzegovina)
  • Serbian Orthodox Church in the USA and Canada
  • Bishopric in Australia and New Zealand
  • Bishopric in Britain and Scandinavia (Great Britain, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark)
  • Bishopric of Buda (Hungary, Czech Republic, and Slovakia)
  • Bishopric in Central Europe (Germany, Austria, and Switzerland)
  • Bishopric in Timişoara (Romania)
  • Bishopric in Western Europe (France, Belgium, Netherlands, and Spain)

Romanian Orthodox Church

  • Metropolis of Bessarabia (autonomous, with the rank of an exarchate, i.e. having the right to have parishes outside its canonical jurisdiction – de facto has in Russia and USA; territorial jurisdiction contested by the Russian Church)
  • Metropolis in France, Western and Southern Europe (British Islands, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy)
  • Metropolis in Germany and Central Europe (Germany, Northern and Central Europe)
  • Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese in America and Canada (USA, Canada, Argentina, Venezuela)
  • Romanian Orthodox Bishopric Dacia Felix (in Serbia)

Bulgarian Orthodox Church (Patriarchate of Sofia)

  • Bulgarian Eastern Orthodox Church Diocese of America, Canada and Australia
  • Diocese in Central and Western Europe
  • Georgian Orthodox and Apostolic Church (Patriarchate-Catholicate of Tbilisi)
  • Church of Cyprus
  • Church of Greece
  • Polish Orthodox Church
  • Albanian Orthodox Church
  • Czech and Slovak Orthodox Church

Orthodox Church in America (recognized as autocephalous only by the Greek, Russian, Bulgarian, Georgian, Polish, and Czech-Slovak Churches)

  • Orthodox Church in America Albanian Archdiocese
  • Orthodox Church in America Bulgarian Diocese
  • Romanian Orthodox Episcopate in America
  • Orthodox Church in America Parishes in Australia
  • Orthodox Church in America Greek Archdiocese
Retrieved from "http://ib.frath.net/w/Eastern_Orthodox_Church"
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